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Match Report - Friday, March 6, 2020

On the eve of the Canada Sevens in Vancouver, the Terrace Northmen came to visit the Surrey Beavers for a good will, completely BCRU sanctioned, clash under the Friday Night Lights for the second time in club history.

The Northmen arrived wearing matching jerseys, however there was a smattering of laundry from local clubs, it would appear Terrace has got to have the wildest thrift store, or maybe not.

SBAA 2nd Div Men vs Terrace Northmen – Win 33-27

The Northmen kicked off at 8pm on the whistle of Referee Riley Robinson. After a few minutes it was obvious that Terrace was very mobile with some hard, evasive runners in the back line. Soon enough the track meet was on when the Northmen opened the scoring with a try on a series of runs and offloads. The Surrey backs looked overmatched. The convert was well struck through the sticks. 7-0 for Terrace. With every first punch comes the counter-punch, in the case of the Beavers that counter-punch was Arron Solomonnsz who scored the first Surrey major following a 60-metre gallop by Clay “The Beast” Ross that set the whole thing up. Brandon “The Cat” Gatto nailed his convert to bring matters to a 7-7 tie. The group known as the Northmen certainly weren’t done with the Beaver reply. Terrace repeated their earlier success with the same formula of run and offload for another try. The Surrey defence was looking suspect, having been run through and around. The convert was horribly shanked from a drop kick shot taken, however it was 12-7 for the Northmen. The Beaver pack pounded the ball all around the park and pinned Terrace deep when Surrey would turnover the ball, only to be given back on a knock on. The resulting scrumdown saw John Eadie run off the 8th man pick to score the Beavers second try. The Gatto convert fell true, 14-12 for Surrey. The Northmen got the ball back and yet again employed their formula, with the added ingredient of some hard running from some big forwards that created rucking phases, for the Terrace entry. When the convert was again missed it appeared that the Northmen couldn’t dig up a kicker. It was 17-14 for Terrace but leaving convert points on the table was keeping the Beavers close. The Surrey backs were fortified with some substitutes that evened up balance in the backs game. This was evident when Alex Martin made a big run and after a couple of rucks Clay Ross scored the go ahead try. The Brandon Gatto was on the mark. The Beavers led 21-17 at the half.

Surrey kicked off the second half, and after the breather, the Northmen used their backs again to ramble through the Beaver backs for another try. The convert was shanked, but Terrace took back the lead at 22-21 at the half. As was the pattern Surrey charged back with some high tempo pressure causing rucking and running with the Northmen on the back foot to open the second half. Iain Small finished the drive with the Beaver try, and the first missed convert, Surrey clawed back to a 26-22 lead. It was beginning to look like the last score of the game would be for the win. Terrace wasn’t able to run on the Surrey backs anymore and the Northmen’s forwards rucked a series of phases into the danger zone that the cashed in for a try. Terrace again failed to convert but took back the lead at 27-26. An unintended dump tackle by Brandon Woods caused the Beavers to be without their scrum half for 10 minutes. Surrey forward David Porowski broke off a big run and ran right at the biggest of the Northmen, maintaining possession and creating the next phase. The Beavers were forcing the issue on offence and made Terrace take a penalty. Surrey chose a scrum as they had dominated these set pieces all game. From the subsequent 8th man play the ball found its way to Clay Ross, who put down the Beaver try. The Gatto convert machine was back on track. Surrey went back on top 33-27 with the clock running down. The Northmen tried one last push, but it was derailed by a now hardened Beaver defence. Eventually time ran out and Surrey would win the super close, super competitive, highly entertaining match. Though Terrace originally sand bagged the Surrey coaching staff with tales of a 60-year-old playing with his grandson. The Beavers maintained key substitutes to combat the mercenary team that showed up. It started as a social match and became a good skilled high flying shoot out. With, as predicted, the last score winning. The host up at the clubhouse was well attended and Chef Andy put on a great feed, as usual. Cheers to Terrace Northmen and associates. Thanks for coming out!